NEW CAMPAIGN ATTACKS NEGLIGENT DRIVING
Aimed at Impatient, Careless and Distracted Drivers

By Bill Goodwill

For the first time in 20 years, all of the major indicators of traffic safety—overall fatalities as well as the fatality rates—increased. There are a lot of reasons for this, many of which have to do with drivers becoming more distracted, impatient, careless, and ultimately, negligent.

The intersection of high-tech, in-car gadgets and busy, sleep-deprived people who speed off to work while multitasking has created a perfect storm of highway risks that is reflected in ever-higher traffic fatalities.

According to Megan McDonald, Executive Director of the American Beverage Institute, which is sponsoring the campaign, “To effectively turn the tide on highway deaths, the nation must view traffic safety within the context of negligent driving. Negligent drivers—whether they are speeding, drunk, distracted, or overly fatigued—put themselves and others at risk, often vastly underestimating the danger posed by their behavior.”

There is often a disconnect between the public's perception of the danger of various actions and the actual danger correlated with them, resulting in millions of unknowingly negligent drivers cruising the roads at any given moment.

The negligent driving television PSA brings home the fact that these “everyday” behaviors cost lives, and urges drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and their minds on the roads. It is being sent to 4,700 major market TV and radio stations and there is an out door component as well. Due to the presence of the legislative community in Washington, DC, paid ads are being placed on transit busses such as the one shown here.